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military. When the French withdrew from the Cape he struggled to make ends meet due
to the limited trade under the control of the Company. At his untimely death, he was

insolvent.

At the time of the British occupation, in 1795, Simon’s Town was deserted, all the

ammunition was dumped into the sea, and the supply of food destroyed to keep it from
falling into British hands. This was a tense time for the widow Auret who, together with

another widow Aspeling, and the assistant Magistrate Jan Hendrik Brand, were the last
to leave Simon’s Town.

Jeremias Auret’s widow married again but the Auret children were disinherited.

Christiana, Jeremias’s widow, fell in love with a resident in their boarding

establishment by the name of Endres —a new arrival from Europe, unknown to all at
the Cape. This Dr. Endres had performed an illegal operation in his home town of

Wartburg, Germany. The patient died in his surgery, which was on the upper floor of

their house. Realising he would be in trouble, he just absconded. When his wife went to
see why he was so long in coming she found the corpse of the patient. At this time the

Government was recruiting soldiers for a campaign in Luxemburg and, as there were no
questions asked, Endres soon found himself far away from his wife and young son and

the trouble he would face. The opportunity to go to the Cape of Good Hope was what he
needed and, landing at Simon’s Town, he found lodgings at the Auret’s.

For various reasons there was not to be a formal wedding so he found a British Naval
captain who agreed to solemnize the marriage. This marriage was never officially

recognized and remained a bone of contention throughout their lives together. Endres
was involved in one legal battle after another. In debt, charged with smuggling, he

deftly ended up as the owner of the Auret estate. Later this also slipped through his
hands as he was declared insolvent and his whole estate was sequestrated.